IGEL, provider of the next-gen edge OS for cloud workspaces, announced that TA Associates ("TA"), a leading global growth private equity firm, has signed a definitive agreement to make a majority investment in the company.

TA joins existing IGEL investor C. Melchers GmbH & Co. KG ("Melchers"), which has been IGEL's primary investor since its founding in 2001 and will maintain a significant equity interest in the company. After handing over the position of IGEL CEO to Jed Ayres last year, founder and former CEO of IGEL Heiko Gloge also remains as a minority stake holder and board member. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

IGEL also announced that Bill Veghte will join the IGEL Board as Executive Chairman. Veghte has decades of experience developing operating systems and bringing industry-leading technologies to market as a senior leader at Microsoft and HP, as a board member for a wide variety of companies including Xero, and as the founder of Athene Partners.

"With his network and his extensive knowledge of the industry, Bill will contribute to expanding and deepening the strong relationships that IGEL has built with technology partners," said Gloge.

"IGEL is the market-leading edge operating system, delivering simplicity with manageability, security, and the flexibility that delivers a richness of experience at a time when customers need these capabilities more than ever before," said Veghte. "I am pleased to be joining the IGEL Board at such a transformational time for the company and the industry, and to be supporting Jed and the team in accelerating IGEL's growth."

In addition to the naming of Veghte as IGEL Executive Chairman, Jonathan Meeks, Managing Director, TA Associates, and Stefan Dandl, Principal, TA Associates, will be added to the IGEL board. They will join existing IGEL board members Heiko Gloge, Managing Partner, and Nicolas Helms, Melchers Managing Partner. Together with Ayres and the leadership team, they plan to accelerate the company's growth globally through increased operational and development bandwidth and significant go-to-market investments, including the further activation of channel partners, to ensure the wide-spread adoption of IGEL OS across increasingly remote and distributed end-user device estates.

IGEL has been on an expansive trajectory with triple-digit growth over the past five years in billings, margin and units. For the year ended December 31, 2020, IGEL increased revenues from recurring software products and services by over 150% year-over-year worldwide, supported by IGEL's growing channel partner ecosystem. Today, IGEL OS is operating on more than 4 million edge devices and counting.

"The world's digital workers have gone remote and we believe this new paradigm is here to stay. IGEL is at the center of this EUC revolution with solutions that meet the need for secure, simple to manage and cost-effective cloud workspaces," said Ayres. "With new backing by TA and the experience of Bill to guide us, we believe that we have the resource depth needed to not only capitalize on this exploding global market need but also innovate quickly to remain strategically positioned for the future of edge computing."

With the widespread shift to remote work and hybrid work scenarios, the EUC market is in transition, with increasing investments in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and cloud workspaces. IGEL is a key enabler of this movement, providing the next-gen OS for cloud workspaces that reduces hardware costs and operating expenses with a more secure endpoint management and control platform for nearly any x86 device.

"We believe IGEL is setting the benchmark for the new era of computing on the endpoint, and is primed to drive rapid and sustainable organic growth," said Meeks. "With strong market leadership and a solid history of innovation and execution, IGEL is uniquely positioned to fulfill the ubiquitous need for secure, manageable cloud workspaces to support remote workers from anywhere. TA is pleased to be partnering with IGEL on this journey."  

"IGEL was founded based on a vision to help customers realize the benefits of a more secure, manageable and productive edge device infrastructure," said Gloge. "Today, we are delivering on this vision with both passion and prowess."

"After supporting IGEL since its founding in 2001 as principal investor, we are excited by the opportunities presented with TA´s investment in IGEL," Helms stated. "We expect that the partnership with TA will provide IGEL with the experience, market access and resources to help propel IGEL through the next phase of growth."